It was a clear message to the packed crowd at the Greater Maple Valley Community Center’s benefit breakfast on March 18 — the center needs help and the community was being asked to give all the help it could.

From Maple Valley Mayor Noel Gerken to board member Tom Sutton to keynote speaker Scott Oki, the idea of helping, even in small ways was conveyed at the breakfast.

“The community center is a very important part of our community,” Gerken said. “The council is committed to the community center. We’re going to need to step up and fill that gap. The city has been doing its part. We’re going to ask you today to step up and make up that gap.”

As of Monday afternoon, the message seemed to be received, as Executive Director Lynn Roberts reported via e-mail that about $33,000 had been raised thus far with money still coming in.

In 2009, the benefit breakfast raised about $20,000, according to information on the community center’s Web site.

Part of the reason for the plea for the community to chip in more than ever this year is due to a reduction of funding from King County and United Way.

“Community is a very special thing and it’s a lost art,” Roberts said during the benefit. “Some of the smaller cities like us are blessed because we do have a sense of community, but, you have to engage my friends.”

A handful of residents who have participated in programs at the community center stepped forward to offer reasons why those in the room should continue to support it.

Andrea Coonrod, who takes her young son Grant to Toddler Time, said she found the program during the dead of winter while home with him. She was looking for something to get her out of the house and “it has made a world of difference.”

“Outside the center it has allowed us to have mom groups and play time,” she said. “I am just very grateful that (the center) is here.”

Judy Reeder began volunteering at the center after she became unemployed following 20 years with her company.

“I didn’t want to stay home and do

nothing,” Reeder said. “I found an ad in the paper to come and volunteer. It has fulfilled my life. It makes me feel more a part of the community. The center here is just a fantastic place.”

Linda Peterson Espinoza said the center has been helpful since her mother was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s about a year ago.

“I’m really grateful for the center, especially for the staff,” she said. “The center is like a second set of eyes for my mom. I am the sole caregiver for my mother. They help me understand where she is, how she is acting … they make her feel special and welcome every time she walks in the door.”

Joy Stringer, who first began attending children’s programs at the center nine years ago, said she has “three very active kids who all learned to walk and then run here in toddler time.”

“This littler community center is the cornerstone of building better families,” Stringer said.

Sutton said he believes, “that the center has a very positive impact on our community.”

“The center is the cornerstone of Maple Valley and the surrounding area,” he said. “This past year there were more than 50,000 visits to the center. In spite of budget cuts from other entities, we’re determined to continue to offer the services that we do. Here at the center we thrive on the help and generosity of this community.”

Oki, who worked at Microsoft in the early years and retired 18 years ago, offered a message about the power of giving something he knows a fair amount about having served almost full time since retiring on charitable foundations, many of which he has founded.

He recently wrote a book about his ideas to reform education and is in the process of building a new non-profit, See Your Impact, seeyourimpact.org, which takes donations of $100 or less at the Web portal then connects donors to people on the ground so they can see exactly where their donations are going.

For example, $17 pays for a mosquito net, which helps prevent the spread of malaria or $20 a month, Oki explained, pays for a child in India to go to a private school or $30 for a cataract operation.

People working in those countries have cell phones, Oki said, and they can take pictures of donations at work, of children going to school, of mosquito nets being purchased, and so on.

Then those photos and stories of how the money is put to work is e-mailed to the donor so they can see exactly how it is impacting the lives of others around the world.

Oki said as an Eagle Scout he still lives by the Boy Scout Oath.

“A big part of that is helping others and that’s why you’re here this morning, to help others,” he said. “It’s something I’ve taken very seriously for 18 years as a full time volunteer. Be generous. It does